ADDRESS 



/ 

MA.T. GEN. GID. J. PILLOW, 



DELIVERF.P liEFOKK THE 



MAURY COUNTY 



g^gnniliiiral aiiii pitc^aiiical ^md\), 



FIKST ANNUAL FAIR, 



OCTOBER 24TH, 1855. 



COLUMBIA, TENK. 

miNTEl) AT THE OFFICE OF THE DEMOCRATK' IIEIIALD. 
1855. 



ADDRESS 



MAJ. GEI. GID. J. PILLOW, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



Umq SlgtimRurul nnh 3lfift|ianital §m% 



AT THE 



ANNUAL EAIR 



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^ 



OCTOBER 24th, 1855. 



COLUMBIA, TENN. : 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE DEMOCRATIC HERALD. 

1855. 



05 



K -' 



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/ 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Agricultural and Mechanical Society : 

Having been requested by your Board of Directors to de- 
liver an address at this your first Annual Fair, I cannot but re- 
gret that the duty thus imposed upon me, had not fallen upon 
some one better fitted for its performance. The reluctance 
with which I approach the duty thus assigned me, is not a lit- 
tle enhanced, from the conviction upon my mind, of the diffi- 
culty of producing any thing new, and of practical value, upon 
themes so little interesting to a general audience as those pro- 
per for such an occasion. 

Identified, however, as I am, in interest and pursuit with 
the object of this association, and feeling a deep solicitude 
for the success of the great interests involved, I feel that, how- 
ever inadequate I may be to a satisfactory discharge of this 
duty, I should, nevertheless, attempt its performance. 

We live, my countrymen, in an age of wonderful achieve- 
ments in the arts and sciences, and of their application to the 
useful purposes of life. We live in a country not less blessed 
by the fertility of the soil, and the salubrity of the climate, 
than by the political institutions which are rapidly develop- 
ing the resources of this great confederacy of States, and ele- 
vating man to the true position of our race. 

In such a country, blessed with such institutions, our 
mission is not less responsible^ than is the duty diflBcult 



of performance. The owners, in fee, of the soil we cultivate^ 
exempt from the payment of tithes and feudatory dues, we 
have a direct and permanent interest in the preservation of 
our landed estates from exhaustion and deterioration, which does 
not exist in countries where the sovereign or feudatory lords 
hold the fee, and those who cultivate the soil are but tenants. 
As, therefore, we exhaust our lands we impoverish ourselves. 

The people, too, being the source of all political power in 
this country, the Government being instituted for their bene- 
fit, and its policy shaped by their will, and to advance their 
happiness, these inestimable political blessings, enjoyed by 
no other people in the world, greatly enhance the value of 
the ownership of the great domain, and render its preservation 
from exhausting culture a duty second only to that of pre- 
serving our political institutions as the source of our civil rights. 

Farmers and Mechanics of Maury County, such being the 
interest you have in the* soil, such the political power you 
possess, and such the blessings our political institutions confer 
upon you, if you appreciate these, you are prepared to under- 
stand the importance of the interests involved in your asso- 
ciation, and in the themes proper for this discourse. For these 
great interests I bespeak your attention. 

I address myself to the agricultural and mechanical classes, 
because they are mutually dependant upon each other, and 
are the two great producing classes of society ; and because the 
products of their labor create the material upon which com- 
merce exists, and upon which all other classes subsist. The 
primary production of such material objects as are necessary 
to satisfy the want3 of man,, by culture of the earth, is the 
province of the agriculturist — their transformation, that of 
the mechanic and artizan — their distribution belongs to com- 
merce, and yet, without the labor of the mechanic, neither 
the husbandman, nor commerce, to any extent, could exist, — 



His skill constructs alike the implements of the agricultu- 
rist, and the ships of commerce. 

How important is it, then, that such an aggregate of the la- 
bor of a class so important to society should be directed 
by education — aided by science— stimulated by honorable 
emulation — fostered by wise legislation, and sustained by the 
direct supply of all our own wants, from those mechanics whom 
circumstances have placed in our midst ? 

Hence, no act of our legislature — unimportant as it may at 
first seem — more entitles that body to the gratitude of the 
country, than that under which we are organized. By this 
law, the importance of your interest, and the justice of legis- 
lating for the benefit of the agricultural and mechanical class- 
es of the great social family of the Stale, are distinctly re- 
cognized. 

This is a beginning in the right place, and contemplates pro* 
gross in the right direction, and though the appropriation is 
small, yet it is inaugurating a new system, deeply affecting 
your interest, and the prosperity of the country ; and I must be 
allowed, therefore, to congratulate you and the country. 

Let us meet the movement in the proper spirit, and in- 
dulge the hope that as the Government has recognized the jus- 
tice of the policy, the small appropriation of the last legisla- 
ture, will be followed by a law, giving adequate encouragement 
and aid, to stimulate to increased effort, and an improved sys- 
tem of agriculture and mechanic industry, alike beneficial to 
these great classes and to the country. 

As we have shown that commerce exists on the products of 
the labor of these two classes, it may not be improper, be- 
fore we enter more in detail into the considerations affecting 
their interests, that we slould glance at what they have al- 
ready done for the country — ^neglected as they have been 
heretofore by Governments. 



6 

England, being principally devoted to the arts and manufao-' 
taring, by the products of these, has long been the first commer- 
cial nation in the world. This importance she has attained, by 
a system of encouragement and protection of the great me- 
chanic and manufacturing interests, and very much at the ex- 
pense of her agricultural interest But though the United 
States are yet in their infancy, and though these interests have 
received but little aid and encDuragement from Governments, 
though the agricultural interests of the country have been al- 
most totally neglected, yet so great has been the growth and de- 
velopment of these two great interests of the country, that 
they have already made our country the second commercial 
nation of the earth. We are now a close competitor of Eng- 
land for the first rank, and the day is close at hand when we 
will far outstrip her, and all others, in the commercial suprema- 
cy of the seas. 

The total floating tonnage of the whole civilized world, ex- 
cluding only China and the East, consists of about 135,000 ves- 
sels of 14,500,000 tons ; of this total tonnage 9,768,172 be- 
long to Great- Britian and the United States, so that exclud- 
ing these two great commercial nations, the total tonnage of 
the remainder of the civilized world is but 4,500,000, or less 
than that which either Great Britain or the United States in- 
dividually possess. Even France, which comes next in the scale, 
is insignificant in comparison — its total tonnage being but 716,- 
000 tons, against 5,043,270 for Great Britain, and 4,724,- 
902 for the United States. 

If these two great interests, the agricultural and mechani- 
cal, neglected as they have hitherto been by Governments, 
have already placed this country and its commerce so far in 
advance of all other nations, except that of England, how long 
would it be, if these interests were properly fostered and en- 
couraged, before they would cause the commerce of this coun- 



try even to double that of Great Britiau ? That it will be so 
within less than half a century, cannot be doubted by any one 
acquainted with the vast agricultural resources of this country, 
and the wonderful growth and development of our manufac- 
turing and mechanic interests. 

I allude to these statistics as having a direct connection with 
the two great classes represented by this Society, and for the 
purpose of illustrating the justice of the policy of the State, as 
adopted by the law under which we are organized into incorpo- 
rated societies. 

To exhibit the products of the industry and skill of these 
two pursuits, to compare opinions, and to embody the experi- 
ence of those engaged in them, so as to advance still higher in 
the art of production, and the skill of fabrication, this society 
was organized ; and this, its first Annual Fair, is to show your 
present position, and to furnish a standard by which to measure 
your future advancements, as well as to excite honorable emu- 
lation. 

Having thus briefly sketched the nature and importance of 
the pursuits which this society represents, and how necessary 
and ennobling those pursuits — having shown that they have al-= 
ready elevated our country to the first rank as a great commar- 
cial nation, it will, at once, be seen that in them is to be found 
the great elements of national prosperity, as well as the surest 
nursery of domestic virtue and of individual happiness, and the 
road to wealth and greatness. 

It remains now for me to consider the means best calculated 
to advance their interest, to point out errors in the system 
generally prevalent, and to call to their attention lights of 
science, and discoveries and inventions of arts, in aid of, and 
in amelioration of, these two great classes of the social family. 
The great Architect of all that is — He who created all 
things, established laws by which all continue to exist.— 



8 

The law ordained for man's being, requires that by the sweat 
of his brow, shall he make his Iread. This law of our bv^ing, 
requiring that we shall labor, is not a curse upon our race, but 
is a wise and merciful ordinance, as essential to a virtuous 
and happy life, as it is to our physical strength and health. 
Obedience to the ordinance carries with it not only moral bless- 
ings, such as virtue, temperance and freedom from all those 
vices and crimes incident to idleness, but it brings with it 
social position, wealth and the actual comforts of life. — 
How dignified and ennobling, then, the pursuit of those hardy 
sons of the soil, who cultivate the earth, and supply the wants 
of the countless millions of our race, who follow other depart- 
ments of industry ? 

How useful and honorable the industrious artizan and me- 
chanic, who manufacture and fashion the products of the agri- 
culturist, and the vast material abounding in the earth, with a 
skill equal to the diversified wants of our race ? How impor- 
tant is every measure which looks to the elevation of this great 
class, in moral and social position, in intellectual advancement 
and artistic skill ? 

In our future remarks, looking to the best means of ad- 
vancing- the interest of these two classes, we shall treat 
them separately. 

First, we shall consider agriculture — ^its origin — its pre- 
sent and future. 

Every herb, plant, vegetable, fruit and tree was original- 
ly idlgenous to some portion of the earth's surface ; but 
they did not all exist in any one clime or country. Hence, 
as our race multiplied and spread over the earth, and as 
Us wants increased, it became necessary that they should 
carry with them, transplant, cultivate and acclimate, in 
their newly acquired country, those products essential to 
their comfort. 



It is manifest, therefore, that in man's primitive condition, 
and in the first element of society, that he was an agricul- 
turist, supplying his wants, and augmenting his comforts by 
tilling the earth. 

In this way, we have advanced to the present enlight- 
ened age ; but the progress has been so slow in agri- 
culture, that, though the arts and sciences have advanced 
far beyond any thing known in the past history of the 
world, yet even here, in the United States, with a cli- 
mate extending from the frozen regions of the North al- 
most to the equator, arid with a soil as diversified as our 
climate, we do not produce many articles of prime neces- 
sity, which our soil is capable of yielding, while the quan- 
tity of those we do produce could be greatly augmented 
by a better knowledge of the capabilities of our soil, of the 
principles of vegetable life, and of skill in their culture. 

Here, then, v/e see that there is ample room for improvei- 
ment, both by enlarging the field of production, and increas- 
ing the quantity of yield, of those articles which we al- 
ready produce ; but there is, perhaps, no department of in- 
dustry where those who follow it, are so little acquainted 
with its laws, as are the practical agriculturists, of the com- 
ponent parts and nature of the soil, and the principles of 
vegetable life. In these respects, we are, practically, great- 
ly behind the discoveries of science. These discoveries of 
science have been made, and published to the world, but 
the knowledge of them seems confined almost exclusively 
to those who follow scientific pursuits, while the practical 
farmer is left to the uncertain hght, derived from his own 
short experience, and even this is lost in his successor. 
These discoveries of science, are but principles of philoso- 
phy — but truthsof nature— are laws of production, within the 
reach of most of us, and are easily practicable when once 



10 

understood. " Agricultural chemistry teaches us the na- 
ture of the elements of the soil — its deficiences — the means 
of correcting these deficiencies — the sustenance of the dif- 
ferent plants, together with the proportions of the different 
elements of the soil that enter into the different species of 
vegetable life, and the proper application of manures or 
foreign stimulants necessary to increase the quantity and 
kind of yield." It will be seen, therefore, that this science 
is the handmaid of enhghtened agriculture ; and that a 
knowledge of this branch of science is as essential to en- 
lightened and successful agriculture, as science can be, to 
any practical manual industry. 

If a knowledge of these important scientific principles 
were possessed by all the farmers of Tennessee, so that their 
energy, industry and labor, were guided and shaped by them 
in cultivating the earth, in adopting the best system for in- 
creasing the yield, and in preserving and enriching their 
soil, who can doubt, but that the products of the soil would, 
in a few years, be doubled, and that, instead of exhausted 
and worn outfields, and a thriftless population, as we have 
in many parts of the State, we would have the most pro- 
ductive fields, and the most prosperous agricultural popula- 
tion in the world. 

Why is it that our farmers are so ignorant of this branch 
of science, so important to their interests ? I answer, it is 
because our colleges and universities have not introduced 
agricultural chemistry as a part of collegiate education. In 
other words, it results of the neglect of this great class of the 
country by the government of the State, in not having es- 
tablished this science as a necessary study of every public 
school in the State. 

But to return to the duty before me, I will remark that 
three things are essential to all vegetable growth. These are, 



11 

first, fertility of soil ; second, ivarmth ; third, moisture. If any 
one of these conditions be wanting, success is impossible. — 
The warmth depends mainly upon the climate, the mois- 
ture upon the seasons. These tivo, we have in most parts of 
our highly favored country to an extent almost equal to our 
wants. But they will be wholly insufficient to insure success, 
without fertility of soil Originally, our soil in this part of 
Middle Tennessee, was the finest primitive formation in the 
world. It possessed all those elements and chemical combi- 
nations of a fine productive soil in a higher degree than is to 
be found in the interior of any country on the continent ; but 
our system of culture is rapidly exhausting it of those sub- 
stances so necessary to healthy and vigorous production, by 
extracting from it the alkaline salts upon which vegetable life 
mainly subsists, and unless we change the system, and avail 
ourselves of the lights which science has discovered, we shall, 
ere long, find our lands inadequate to subsist our rapidly in- 
creasing population. All vegetation is composed of a few earthy 
bases and gases in combination. Of the former, Ume, soda, 
potash and magnesia are the principal — of the latter, carbon, 
oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen are principal gases. These 
bases and gases combined chemically, are called, respectively, 
carbonate of lime~of soda — of potash^ and of magnesia, and 
constitute what is meant by the salts of the earth, or more 
properly alkaline hases. Every species of vegetation known 
to exist; is composed mainly of these, not, however, in the 
same proportion. On the contrary, by a wise provision of the 
economy of nature, no two species of plants, or of vegetation, 
are composed of these elements in the same proportion, or 
in combination in the same degree. The different species 
of forest growth have these substances in different propor- 
tions, and so wheat, corn, cotton, hemp, tobacco, potatoes, 
peas, oats — in fine, every thin^ has these substances, or, more 



12 

properly, is composed of these substances in different propor-r 
tions, but still in combination. To illustrate this, and the ef-r 
feet of the growth of different plants upon the earth, " suppose 
for example, a crop to require a peculiarly large supply of pot- 
ash, it may grow well if the soil abound in potash, but if the 
soil be deficient in potash, and abound in lime, then this crop 
may scarcely grow at all upon it, while another crop, to which 
lime is especially necessary, may grow luxuriantly." 

"If two crops of unlike kinds be sown together, their roots 
suck in the inorganic substances in different proportions — the 
one more potash and phosphoric acid perhaps, the other more 
lime and magnesia or silicia. They thus interfere less with 
each other than plants of the same kind do, which require the 
same kind of food, in nearly the same proportions." 

" Suppose the soil to contain a certain average supply of all 
those inorganic substances which plants require, and that the 
same crop is grown upon it for a long series of years ; this crop 
will carry off some of these substances in larger proportion 
than others, so that, year by year, the quantity of those which 
are thus chiefly carried off will become relatively less. Thus, 
at length, the soil, for want of these substances, will be unable 
to produce this crop at all, though it may still contain a large 
store of the other ii^organic substances, which the particular 
crop does not specially exhaust." It is upon this principle 
the benefit of a rotation of crops mainly depends. 

It will be seen, therefore, that exhaustion may be general, 
arising from the gradual carrying off of all the kinds of food 
on which plants live ; or special, arising from the wants of one 
or more of these substances, which the crops, which have long 
been grown upon it, have specially required. To repair the 
former kind of exhaustion, is equal to making a new soil, 
while to restore the latter, it may be sufficient to restore 
that substance of which the soil has been deprived by a con- 



13 

tinuous cultivation in the same crop. These are some of the 
principles taught us by agricultural chemistry. That they 
are truths of production, every practical farmer's own obser- 
vation must satisfy him. 

By chemical analysis it is ascertained that a large proportion 
of cotton is lime. By cultivating the same land through a 
series of years in cotton, the land would necessarily become so 
exhausted of its lime as to be incapable of the healthy growth 
of those plants, and this we all know to be the fact from expe- 
dience ; and yet there will be left in the earth a good store of 
those other substances, as magnesia, potash, soda, &c., which 
are consumed in exceedingly small degree, by the cotton plants. 
Hence, land tired of cotton ought to produce good corn, and es- 
pecially wheat, oats, or beans, which have very Uttle lime in 
them. 

Is not the truth of this fully proven by the experience of the 
whole cotton growing region of the Southern States ? As a 
matter of fact, we know that in the old cotton regions of Ala- 
bama, Mississippi and Louisiana, the continued cultivation of 
their lands in cotton — without sufficient rest, rotation or ma- 
nure, has brought out legions of enemies, to prey upo,n thi,s 
great staple. — The lice, when the plant is young and tender, 
the rust and blight in more advanced and vigorous gi'owth, 
the cut-worm, the army-worm, the boll-worm, the bug-rot anc^ 
the water-rot, all prey upon it, and often destroy the most 
promising crops. These are all different forms of disease brought 
on the plant for the want of the proper elements or siibctan-i 
ces for its healthy production, or for these in the proper pro- 
portions. Similar effects are produced in the State of Maryland, 
by tobacco — in Virginia, by tobacco and cotton — and in the 
Carolinas by cotton, The same .thing may be seen in the 
effects of the continued cultivation of the same land for along 
series of years in the peach, in New Jersey, where that fruit, 



14 

once the flaest grown in the Union, and the staple of New Jer- 
sey, is becoming greatly deteriorated in quahty, and rendered 
uncertain as a crop, owing to a disease called the ydloivs, to 
which the peach has, in late years, become subject, and to what 
is called the borer. A continuous crop of corn, wheat or oats 
will produce like effects, viz. : it will exhaust the earth of the 
substances that these crops live upon, to such an extent as to 
make it unsuited to their health, growth and development. 

The same principle of growth, as a law of production, may 
be seen in the forest. If a pine forest die out or be cut down, 
it is almost universally followed by a young and vigorous 
growth of oak, and vice versa, it you cut down a forest mainly 
oak, the pine follows. This same principle may be seen in the 
coaling grounds of our iron furnaces, where the oak is followed 
by the chestnut, or the chestnut oak. Wherever any one spe- 
cies of forest timber greatly predominates, and has grown up 
to maturity, it has extracted so much of the alkaline bases that 
enter into the peculiar growth, that the land is unsuited to pro- 
duce another forest growth of that particular species, though 
other growths, drawing other substances — other alkahne bases, 
or in different proportions, will immediately follow. 

Having thus, as I conceive, established this great principle 
as a laiv of introduction — that is, having shown every species of 
crop has its different element, or, if the same elements, in differ- 
ent proportions, and that by cultivating the same field in the 
same crop for a series of years, we will so exhaust the land of 
the substances entering into that crop — having, I say, estab- 
lished this great truth, as a law of production, and of universal 
application to every species of vegetation, it furnishes the 
agriculturist with a chart and compass, by which to steer his 
course, and demonstrates the absolute necessity of conforming 
to this law, in order to avoid the fatal consequences of its vio- 
lation. 



16 

A rotatiou of cops will ameliorate this evil ; but with a 
rotation of crops there will be a slow, bat gradual and certain, 
deterioration of your land. Subsoil ploughing, by which vir- 
gin soil is brought nearer the surface— by which the subsoil is 
loosened up so that the roots of the plants mny penetrate deep- 
er in search of the alkaline bases that enter into the growth — 
by which the water, of a wet season, may sink and pass off 
Irom the roots, and by which the roots can draw moisture from 
lower in the earth of a dry season — subsoil ploughing, which 
is beneficial in all these respects, will greatly increase the crops 
and help to put off the evil day of exhaustion ; but subsoiling 
alone will not prevent deterioration of your land. Farmers 
must learn the great truth, that vegetation extracts from the 
earthits substances, and that these substances must be restored^ 
if they would avoid deterioration more or less rapid, and that 
deterioration will, sooner or later, bring on exhaustion. 

You must, therefore, adopt a system of manuring, and of fer- 
tilizing crops — such as wheat, clover, peas, &c. You must 
cease to tramp your fields through the winter, and burn off 
your corn and cotton stalks, grass and weeds. All dry vege- 
tation retains the same earthy bases, (though in different pro- 
portion,) which enter into your crops of corn, cotton, wheat, &c. 
By ploughing in the corn and cotton stalks, you restore to the 
earth the very substances and in the exact proportions required 
for a new crop of corn or cotton. You must adopt horizon- 
tal ploughing, so as to prevent the rains from washing off the 
loose surface loam. 

Let us in Tennessee, be admonished by the condition to 
which the old Atlantic States have been reduced, by the same 
system which we are pursuing, to change our system before 
our lands are exhausted, and we ourselves impoverished. To 
restore the sandy and worn out fields of Maryland, Virginia 
and the Carolinas, will require great labor and expenditure of 



16 

money. The march of the restorer is much slower than' mat of 
the exhauster. Thejrestorer must have gxQ?ii pMience^ and must 
be content with small returns for large outlays. In these old 
States, effort is being made to retrieve the error of the past, and 
to restore their exhausted lands by the application of foreign 
manures, and by the gatherings of the barn-yards and the 
composts of their stables, and with the characteristic energy 
of our people, they will ultimately change their barren and 
waste fields to rich harvest and green pasturage ; but these 
lands, by judicious culture, could have been kept productive 
for less than half the labor now required to restore them, while' 
they would never have ceased to return full rewards to the 
husbandman. 

If we do not all understand agricultural chemistry so as 
to be able to explain the sciences — chemical and physiolo- 
gical, which the several constituents of the soil render 
vegetation in the growth of the different .staples of our coun- 
try, we all, nevertheless, know that our lands are being ex- 
hausted and -U^ashed away — that the continued cultivatiori 
of the same land, in the same crop, without rest or change, 
destroys the power of the soil for the healthful production 
of that crop, and that, therefore, a change is necessary. We 
know that stable manures, lime, gypsum, marl and guano 
are fertilizers, and that these, with wheat, clover, peas, and 
subsoil ploughing, will prevent deterioration. 

We all ought to know that as a manure, lime should be 
used in what is called its slacked condition. If unslacJced 
its affinity for the carbon of the vegetable world is so pow- 
erful, that it will combine with the carbon, and thus take 
from the earth a most important element of vegetation, 
and instead of a benefit, it will be an injury. I have thrown 
these suggestions, as elementary truths, having practical 
value, to those who will apply them, and as calculated to 



17 

correct errors, almost every where prevalent in our system 
of farming. 

In an age of steamboats and steam engines, of railroads 
and telegraphs, and of the application of these great discov- 
eries to the useful pursuits of life, and the industrial arts, is 
it not strange that in agriculture, the most important of allj 
the least progress is made ? While the world is going ahead, 
with a motive power which steam alone could produce, we alone 
are standing still ; and, what is almost as wonderful, we seem 
scarcely conscious of the fact. 

Even the improvements in the implements of husbandry, 
which we have adopted, are mostly made in other States, but 
in their use we are far behind our Northern neighbors. 
Their heresies in Religion and Politics I would not have you 
imitate ; but their industry and skill in labor-saving machine- 
ry, and in their application to agricultural pursuits, I think, I 
may well commend to you. As a race, the people of the North 
are far from being lazy, but they show a wonderful " proclivity 
for dodging hard work.'' Steam-power, water-power, windv 
power and horse-power are applied to the most menial as well as 
the most important pursuits of life. They use machinery for 
almost every purpose. They plant corn, sow grain, reap, mow, 
rake and thresh with machinery and horse-power. Such are 
some of the improvements our Northern neighbors have adopt- 
ed as a means of overcoming natural obstacles, and to suppltf 
the want of labor in agricultural pursuits. Hence, you will 
perceive, that with them hard labor is becoming less and less 
direct in its application, not only to manufactures, but to agri- 
culture, and it might, in time, become almost obsolete, were it 
not that the increase in the means of acquiring the comforts 
and luxuries of life, begets a corresponding increase in the 
demand for them. Yet, with all these improvements in agri- 
cultural implements, the Northern agriculturist cannot compete 



18 

with us in any one staple product. With them the winter is 
so long and cold, and the summer so short, that they can pro- 
duce nothing but the hardiest vegetables and grains, while 
they have to shelter their stock and feed them on dry food 
from six to eight months in the year. Even wheat — their 
great staple — properly put in, the crop is as certain with us as 
with them. The yield is as heavy as theirs, while our wheat 
has 5 per cent, less water, and 5 per cent, more gluten, and 
will turn out 20 per cent, more flour per bushel, than theirs. 
When we add to these considerations, the fact that our crop 
comes into the market from six weeks to two months earlier, 
enabling us always to supply the opening markets, and when 
in direct competition, ours commands 25 per cent, better 
prices, (because of its additional dryness and less liability to 
damage in transportation to a foreign market,) you perceive 
that our advantages are at once decisive. 

In the growth of stock, we have advantages equally deci- 
sive. Our growing seasons are long, the grasses abundant and 
the climate so mild that shelters are unnecessary, while we 
are several hundred miles nearer the great stock market. In 
the production of cotton, sugar, tobacco and rice, and all those 
delicious fruits and vegetables requiring a genial sun for their 
production, we have a perpetual monopoly. But notwith- 
standing all these disadvantages, the Northern farmer makes 
a good living. In rigid economy, in the use of labor-saving ma- 
chinery and the improvements in agricultural implements, he 
finds compensation for the natural obstacles to success, in a 
cold climate and short seasons. 

In some portions of Middle Tennessee, the cultivation of 
cotton is the main reliance of the farmers. That cotton may 
be grown here does not admit of a doubt, but that it can be 
p'ojiiahhj grown, when we take into the estimate, the great 



19 

ralue of our lands, and the deteriorating effects of the crop 
upon those lands, I controvert. 

It should be borne in mind that cotton was originally a tro- * 
pical production, and that there, it was indigenous and is pe- 
rennial. But it is, in my judgment, an error to suppose it may 
be grown here as a main reliance. This error grows out of the 
fact that cotton may be profitably grown in this latitude, in 
the Mississippi alluvial bottoms and in the coast lands of the 
Eastern Atlantic. Those who reason thus, have failed to take 
into the account the effect of elevation or depression in modi- 
fying climate. Elevation lowers climate, while depression ele- 
vates it. 

The most accurate scientific test of this influence is, that 
20 feet of depression is equal to one degree of latitude south, 
upon the same uniform plain. Hence, we see, within the tro- 
pics, and almost under a vertical sun, at an elevation of about 
16,000 feet above the level of the sea, the mountains are cov- 
ered with perpetual snow, while on the sea coast at the base 
of those mountains, there is almost furnace heat. 

Our position in Maury County is known to be between five 
and six hundred feet above the level of the alluvial lands of 
the Mississippi bottom, and eight hundred or one thousand 
feet above the sea coast of the Atlantic, in the same latitude. 
In addition to this, the amount of sand in the soil of the Atlan- 
tic coast lands, and the Mississippi alluvials, greatly increases 
the warmth of those lands, and is, therefore, a much nearer ap- 
proach to the climate congenial to the production of cotton. 

The staple products of Middle Tennessee should be corn, 
wheat, oats, grass and live stock. In live stock, Tennessee is 
now the first State in the Union ; in corn about the sixth ; in 
wheat about the fifth ; and in domestic manufactures the first, 
while she is fifth in population. Under a proper system, the 
extent and fertility of our soil, the mildness of our climate. 



20 

with the industry and energy of our people, would make her 
first in all these products. 

Let the people of Tennessee change their system — resusci- 
tate their lands — adopt labor-saving machinery — build up 
manufactures, and apply thereto our fine water-power, and, 
with their surplus labor, manufiicture their own clothing and 
implements of husbandry — let them extend their Railroad 
system, and develope their mineral resources — let them but do 
this, and there never lived a happier or a more prosperous peo- 
ple. The impulses of self-interest should prompt this course ; 
but the instincts of self-preservation may soon demand it, and 
the sooner they adopt it, the firmer position they may take in 
maintaining their rights, and the more will those rights be re- 
spected. 

In approaching the subject of the mechanic arts, the field 
is so boundless in extent, and so rich in the evidences of the 
inventive genius of our peeple, that it is difficult to determine 
what branches of mechanic industry are proper for considera- 
tion in this discourse. Rapid as have been the advances of 
science, in discovering the truths of philosophy, the mechanic 
arts have kept pace with these, and as new principles have been 
discovered, means have been found — instruments constructed — 
to apply the new principle to some purpose of life. 

The discovery that the electricity of the thunder storm 
was identical with that generated upon the galvanic battery, 
was but ascertaining a principle of philosophy. Now, that wild, 
flashing, Hasting element of the atmosphere, is made useful to 
man by its instrumentality as a flying agent, between remote 
points of communication. By the electro-magnetic telegraph, 
we are enabled to converse with those a thousand miles from us= 
The world could not have been ignorant, from its creation to 
the days of Fulton, of the great elastic power of steam ; but 
.^t^e application of this wonderful power, to the useful purpo- 



21 

ses of life, iras reserved for the discoveries of modern minds, 
and for the skill of modern mechanics. 

Indeed, the age in which we live is eminently utilitarian 
This is its characteristic. In the lute world's exhibition in Lon- 
don, and in a similar exhibition, now in progress in Paris, the 
great mechanic shop of the fine arts of the world, American 
genius and mechanic skill, in the utilitarian departments, is 
astonishing all Europe, and CJ'rrying the highest honors. It 
was but the other day, that the Emperor of Russia selected 
one of our mechanics from a vilhige shop of a neighboring 
State, and placed him at the head of the engineer department 
of the navy of that great Empire. 

Within the past season, the two great powers of Europe 
have sent distinguished officers to this country, to examine 
the government armories, and our machinery for constructing 
arms, while at this very hour, another American has in full 
operation extensive factories in Russia and England for sup- 
plying their armies with arms. These facts constitute the 
highest enconiums that could be passed, upon the skill, inven- 
tive genius and ingenuity of American mechanics. 

In Tennessee we are behind many of our northern and some 
of our southern States, in almost every branch of mechanics 
and manufactures. Until within the last 20 years, we have 
been almost exclusively an agricultural people. We now have 
many and extensive manufacturing establishments of iron and 
cotton, and these are now important and leading interests in 
the State, and with the additional capital constantly seeking 
investment in them, Tennessee will soon take position with 
the first rank of States. As a branch of one of these interests, 
iron manufacturing machine shops are springing up in many 
parts of the State, the effect of which will soon be seen and felt 
in every part of the country. Those capitalists who do most to 



22 

introduce and develope these great interests are patriots, and 
entitled to the thanks and gratitude of the country. 

Another iniportant branch of mechanics, of recent intro- 
duction among us, is the manufacture of every species of 
carriage. The speaker thinks he has enjoyed the opportuni- 
ty of seeing in the Eastern cities and older States, as fine 
articles as are manufactured in the United States, and he is 
satisfied that no better article is any where manufactured 
than in Tennessee. In strength of structure, in style of 
model, and in beauty, and elegance of finish, nothing can 
surpass those made by our own mechanics in Columbia. 

The manufacturing of heavy woollen jeans and linsey, and 
cotton osnaburgs, suitable for clothing for our slaves, has 
been introduced with a degree of success and profit far ex- 
ceeding the anticipations of the most sanguine friends. Sa, 
too, the manufacture of heavy brogan shoes, which will soon, 
it is hoped, supply our home demand, promises to do well. 

Many other branches of manufactures and mechanics, 
are rapidly growing up in the State, and are becoming im- 
portant elements in the general prosperity of the State, and 
our vast mineral stores of iron and copper, which are 
being largely worked, will soon enable Tennessee to 
declare her independence ; and if our people will only act 
wisely, and encourage our own mechanics by supplying all 
their wants as far as possible at home, the dawn of a brighter 
day will, at once, break upon our vision. 

Agriculture and mechanics, being dependent upon each 
other, will find increased prosperity in mutual support. 
The mechanic arts, as I have already stated, are greatly in 
advance of agriculture, in avaiUng itself of the discoveries 
of sciences. It however needs, and should receive, the fos- 
tering care of government, not in protecting it by impost 
duties, but in developing its skill, and in bracing it up, and 



2S 

supporting it in its conflict with capital, as well as in eleva- 
ting it in^noral and social position in the great social fami- 
ly. Every thing which government can rightfully do, ought 
to be done, to give intelligence, moral worth and social posi- 
tion to the mechanic element of society. 

In governments having permanent castes in society, the 
mechanic is excluded from high social position, but with 
ours, his rights and privileges being equal to those of the 
most favored classes, he should be fitted for the highest po- 
sition, to which, by the principles of our government, he may 
be called. It is our boast that our legislative halls, State 
and national, the senate chamber, and the State and feder- 
al Executives, are alike open to all. With us, it is not the 
pursuit that confers distinction. Every occupation is re- 
spected, and the social position depends mainly upon 
.the moral worth, intelhgence and usefulness of those who 
follow the mechanic pursuits, without regard to the occupa- 
tion itself. 

Need I mention the names of Franklin, of Fulton, Ark- 
wright, Cartwright, Morse and a thousand others, whose 
'fame reflects honor upon their professions and country? 

To the mechanics themselves, I would say, respect your- 
selves, respect your calling and you will thus become tha 
means of your own advancement. Educate your sons, 
teach them the dignity of labor, not only in the use of tools, 
but in the physical sciences and mechanics, and in all 
knowledge necessary in every branch of mechanics, and 
you thus qualify them for every branch of human industry, 
and these will command social position. It is the want of- 
education and general information, more than all other 
things, which you feel. Such I know to be the opinion of 
all sensible and intelligent men in this country, of the con- 



24 

siderations which control the public estimate of your char- 
acter and social position in the great American family. 

There is one thing in the policy of the State, of which 
the mechanics have a right to complain. While they have 
asked no special favors of the State, they have a right to 
expect that no policy will be adopted, injuriously affecting 
the fair rewards of their labor, or calculated to degrade 
them. 

In both these respects, I conceive that the policy of the 
State, in its penal code, has done them great injustice. Mis- 
placed philanthrophy and visionary theories of reform, it 
seems to me, have blinded the legislature of the State, to a 
sense of what is due to the great mechanic element of the 
State. 

We have heard strong appeals made to the country against 
foreign pauper labor competing with home industry, 
while the State has itself built up and put in operation .a 
mammoth mechanic shop, which it is carrying on with the 
labor of convict-felons, and is bringing the fruits of this labor 
in direct competition with that of the honest, moral, 
hard-working mechanics of the State. She catches those 
who violate her laws and the peace of society — the thief, 
the burglar, the murderer — she establishes their guilt as 
felons, her courts of record pronounce them infamous, and 
they are then sent to the State mechanic shop, as appren- 
tices, to learn a trade, and in the course of a few years, are 
turned out, graduated mechanics, to associate with the 
families of the honest and industrious and moral mechanics 
of the State, or to go back to their old haunts of vice and 
crime. 

Are these convict-felon mechanics fit associates for the 
honest mechanics and their families ? Does not the asso- 



Zo 



cialion necessarily degrade and lower the moral and so- 
cial position of the great mechanic family of the State ? 
A system so fraught with evil, so degrading to a great and 
useful portion of society, should not be tolerated by any 
people, much less should it be introduced and fostered by 
a government looking to the elevation of society and the 
happiness of our race. It is the first and paramount duty 
of the legislature so to change this system as to remedy 
the great moral wrong. This can be done by changing the 
pursuits of the convicts to some species of manufacturing 
which does not belong properly to the mechanic pursuits 
of the State. 

If that be not possible, let the system of solUanj conjim- 
mcnt and rdiglouB instruction be substituted for the pre ■ 
sent. If it bo objected that such a change would make the 
Penitentiary a tax upon the State, let it be so. Society 
must be protected against crime, and, if to do this, the peo- 
ple must be taxed, it is a necessary tax, and it is infinitely 
better for the whole country to be lightly taxed, than that a 
great and useful class should be injured in their means of 
living, and degraded to the condition of convict-felons. Pun- 
ish the guilty as you will, but do not punish the innocent 
also. Protect society, but not by starving and demoralizing 
a large and useful class. 

If it be said, that the consideration of the poHcy of the 
State, in her penal code, does not belong to the duties of 
the speaker on this occasion, and that, therefore, these re- 
marks are out of place, my reply is, that the State has au- 
thorized the organization of Agricultural and Mechanical 
Societies for the promotion of the interests of the two great 
classes in all that relates to their well-being and advance- 
ment, and that when I sec a poHcy of State, calculated by 
its direct and certain tendency, to degrade and demoralize 



2G 

one of these classes, it is my duty to ciU publ'c attention 
to the suhject. Were I to fail to do so, I should feel that 1 
liad but half performed my duty to those whose honored 
organ I am on this occasion. Let the mechanics of Ten- 
nessee be prudent, be firm, be united, and demand eman- 
cipation from this odious system, and sooner or later a just 
public opinion will reUeve them. Above all, let them be 
true to themselves, and indignantly spurn association with 
those convld-fdon mechanics. Let them be true to their 
country, which confers such countless blessings upon them, 
and recognizes no distinctions in society, except such as are 
founded in moral worth, intelligence and virtue. 

I have thus hastily glanced at the great interests involved 
in the cause of your association — how imperfectly, none 
know better than myself. My object has not been to please 
by flattering your pride, but to speak the truth as I under- 
stand it. I have sought to point out error where it existed, 
and to bring to your assistance tha lights of science as 
aids to your advancement, but I have held forth no false 
lights to Icgidle you from the safe track into the fields of 
visionary experiments. 

I would that I could induce you to push forward, with 
energy and courage, in search of the great truths already 
placed within your reach by the discoveries of this wonderful 
age. If my remarks shall induce earnest enquiry, and ex- 
cite among you honorable emulation to excel in the two 
great and ennobling pursuits which you claim as your own, 
my task will not have been performed in vain. 



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